Paladin of the Dead God

*Crack.*

Isaac felt the world itself fracturing.

Literally, everything within his sight began to splinter and fissure. Time, space, life, and inanimate objects all fragmented and scattered. The only things remaining intact were singular entities.

Isaac was flung out of the world.

In an instant, as the world shattered around him, Isaac saw in each fragment the countless timelines where Elil had intervened.

Only then did Isaac understand why Elil’s heaven was called the Crystal Battlefield.

Even a single battle held hundreds of processes and thousands of potential outcomes.

A battle, in itself, was a brilliant crystal.

Elil’s knights sometimes won and sometimes lost, each scenario sparkling like a beautiful polyhedron.

Both victory and defeat were beautiful. Elil cherished them all.

Crystal polyhedrons flowed down like the tears of orphans and widows.

However, as all the pieces fell, Isaac found himself cast into a pitch-black void, devoid of light, ground, or sky. He had expected a dizzying fall, but even that didn’t happen. There was no gravity to pull him down in this place.

‘At least I can still breathe.’

Isaac took out the Luadin Key and ignited it. The light brightened his surroundings, but he saw neither Nimloth, Edelred, nor Hesabel.

Considering what might happen in Urbansus, finding them seemed impossible. They had likely been sent to entirely different times and spaces. Pondering how to escape, Isaac decided to wait for a while.

But soon, Isaac revised his judgment.

‘I’ll go mad if I stay here.’

In a space where no sensation could be felt, ten minutes and a hundred years held no difference. Though he thought he had waited a short time, he couldn’t tell if an hour or a day had passed. Others would likely be even more mentally shaken.

At that moment, Isaac felt a presence.

It was a literal presence. He sensed Elil in every direction, no, in all time and space. It wasn’t merely close by. If encountering an angel felt like being overwhelmed by their presence, a god was different. Isaac felt as though he was inside Elil’s very being.

Suddenly, numerous crystal fragments began to appear. The hastily pieced-together crystals formed a mosaic, quickly creating a new time and space.

***

Isaac stood on a windy hill crowned with an oak tree. In front of him was Elil’s back. Elil was looking down at a lake rippling in the wind beside the tree.

Isaac glanced around at his surroundings.

A sunny autumn day, a small hill, and a large oak tree.

Though there were no camellias, the scenery was identical to what he had seen before entering Urbansus. Only then did Isaac realize the moment he was in.

It was the very day Elil ascended.

The day the dancer cut open his chest and stole his heart.

Elil detached his shoulder from the oak tree and turned to face Isaac.

His eyes were inorganic.

It was more like a statue made in Elil’s likeness than Elil himself.

Of course, all the essential elements of life, such as breathing, slight tremors, and subtle imbalances, were present. However, the Elil before him felt like something meticulously mimicking even those details.

Isaac took out the Rite of Division from his bosom, knelt on one knee, and bowed deeply.

“I present the sacred relic to the Supreme King. Please accept the finally returned Holy Sword Gargaldia.”

Yet, Elil did not even glance at it. He simply ignored Isaac, remaining silent.

This was an unexpected situation for Isaac. Normally, Elil would accept the Rite of Division immediately and commend the retriever.

However, the person who took the red ritual was none other than a woman.

Larabia, the woman who had been by Elil’s side, and his daughter.

She approached with an incense burner hanging from her wrist and a dagger in her hand, hidden behind her back. Elil clearly saw her, but fixed his gaze on the void as if he hadn’t noticed.

Everything unfolded like a play.

Elil spread his arms as if to welcome her. Larabia approached, kissed him, and embraced him. Suddenly, the Rite of Division plunged into Elil’s chest.

What happens when a god bleeds?

The world held its breath. The scent of blood spread. Suddenly, everything turned red as if bathed in sunset. It felt as though the whole world was running amok. The seas flooded, rivers flowed backward, and the earth closed its eyes and sank. In an instant, a massive lake formed in the vicinity.

Then Larabia swung the incense burner, releasing smoke, and placed her fingers to her lips. Silence fell. The world calmed as if nothing had happened, and the sky regained its original color. Under the bright autumn sun, Larabia continued her quiet slaughter on the hill, where only the perpetrator and the victim were present.

As Elil’s body collapsed, Larabia laid him against the oak tree and cradled him. Her body was drenched in Elil’s blood. Yet, unsatisfied with just that much blood, she widened the wound further to extract what she sought.

It was the heart of a god.

Even after being cut out, Elil’s heart continued to throb, still pumping warm blood. An unending holy grail, the eternal vitality, the heart of the one who reached the pinnacle in a mortal body. Larabia was soaked in the blood pouring from the heart.

By then, Elil’s body had already died and ascended. Larabia, too, ascended to the ranks of the gods as a result of this ritual. But she neither shed a tear nor mourned. Nor did she display any ecstasy or delight.

She simply kissed Elil’s cheek once more, and whispered something.

But Isaac couldn’t hear a word. Larabia didn’t make a sound. She just mouthed the words, as if even the corpse shouldn’t hear. Then, she cut her fingertip with the Rite of Division.

As blood welled up on her finger, she used it to paint Elil’s lips.

Then Larabia fled, carrying the dagger that had cut Elil’s chest, his heart, and the incense burner used in the crime. Her only witnesses were the trees, the wind, and the ghosts.

With each step she took, drops of blood fell, making camellias bloom.

***

*Crack.*

Suddenly, time and space shattered again, and Isaac was flung back into the pitch-black void where he had been before. The abrupt shift gave him a headache.

Isaac struggled to understand what he had just witnessed.

“Elil’s ascension… was it done with Elil’s consent?”

He had always had some doubts. How could a mere dancer have cut out the heart of the world’s strongest being, a living force who had defeated dragons, angels, and even gods?

It would have been impossible without Elil’s consent.

But Isaac wondered if Elil had truly consented to this ascension.

Conspiracy, manipulation, and assassination were the dancer’s domains.

Isaac began to suspect that Larabia’s scheme might have made Elil consider ascension inevitable. Only the strongest could extract the heart of the strongest. Or someone to whom the strongest had willingly granted his heart.

Perhaps Larabia had cunningly deceived Elil into willingly giving up his heart.

‘…This has gone too far. Whatever the truth was, it doesn’t matter now.’

After all, it had happened hundreds of years ago. Whether Larabia gaslit Elil to extract his heart or simply turned the coin in a vending machine, it didn’t matter to him.

Listening to the dancer’s perspective might reveal more, but the dancer in the recollection he had just seen had shown no emotion or uttered a single word. As one of the Nine Faiths and an ascended being, the real dancer was likely not present, and what he had seen was probably just an illusion created by Elil’s Urbansus.

What mattered now was that Isaac no longer had the Rite of Division.

Isaac believed that Elil showing him this memory was part of the ritual retrieval ceremony.

Revealing the hidden stories and legends tied to the sacred relic.

Though this had never happened before, it was possible since the relic was an EX-rank sacred item offered directly to a god.

As expected, Elil’s presence loomed again. The first thing Isaac saw was red. Then, the smell of something burnt and ash-filled wafted towards him.

It was a fortress made of red stone.

Isaac realized he recognized this place. It was Rougeberg, the stronghold of House Brant and once the capital of Elil. However, while the structure was familiar, the interior was filled with exotic furniture, curtains, and carpets. Moreover, it was crumbling, decaying, and soaked by rain.

Isaac, who remembered Rougeberg in its splendor, found this scene unfamiliar. It looked like a fortress long since fallen, abandoned, and in ruins. Rain drizzled through holes in the roof under thick, gray clouds.

“Come closer.”

Isaac turned his head at the sudden voice.

At the head of the empty hall, hunched over a pile of rubble, sat Elil. He, too, looked like a discarded remnant, forgotten and abandoned along with the ruins.

“I’ve heard about you from others.”

His eyes were still inorganic, his expression like a crafted statue. From his words, Isaac knew Elil had already conversed with, or at least examined the memories of, Edelred and Hesabel.

Elil, with empty eyes, gazed at Isaac.

“Though you are a heretic, I acknowledge that you are a knightly knight, a warrior-like warrior. If you desire a reward, speak of your wish.”

***

Isaac gazed quietly at Elil, who asked him to state his wish.

He looked like someone who needed a good meal and a long rest, but Isaac couldn’t dare to say that. Elil wasn’t truly hungry or tired.

His hunger and exhaustion were of a different kind.

Isaac knelt on one knee and bowed before Elil.

“Now that the sacred relic has returned to its rightful owner, that is enough for me.”

Isaac lied. In truth, he wanted to demand all the treasures and sacred relics Elil had, but that was nothing compared to what he truly desired.

No angels, no gods, no listening ears or watching eyes. This was the moment.

“However, if I may, I would consider it an infinite honor if Elil’s warriors lent their swords under the banner of the Order of Light.”

Before Elil lost interest in earthly matters, he had agreed to the participation of the Dawn Army under the name of the White Empire.

Although they had clashed with the Codex of Light, grudges were irrelevant. Elil sought only combat and glory, not to oppose the order established by the Codex of Light.

Isaac was now asking again for the participation of the Dawn Army.

Edelred’s agreement alone wasn’t enough. If there were those in Elil’s kingdom who opposed the Dawn Army’s participation, a divine command was the most powerful way to unify the kingdom. This would be a great help to Edelred in leading the kingdom to unity.

“The Dawn Army, you say.”

Elil opened his mouth with a bored expression.

“Why should we join the Dawn Army?”

Isaac realized this was the crucial moment he had been waiting for.

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Even though the moment had arrived, Isaac hesitated to answer.

What he was about to say would result in countless casualties. It would bring sacrifices and sorrow beyond even what Isaac, who saw this world as a mere game, could bear.

But Isaac had no choice but to answer.

All he could do was offer a small apology before speaking.

“It is the last chance for the knights to return to Elil’s kingdom.”

Elil’s face remained expressionless at Isaac’s reply.

“Knights returning? You speak as if there are no knights in my kingdom.”

“With all due respect, Elil.”

Isaac leaned against the armrest and stared intently at Elil.

“I haven’t seen a single knight here. This place is nothing but a wretched slum where people fight over scraps in the mire.”

For the first time, a smile crept onto Elil’s lips.

–TL Notes–

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